16-year-old I-64 shooter sentenced to juvenile facility

Tasha Kates, Media General News Service
Published: May 28, 2008

Despite recommendations that a 16-year-old Crozet boy involved in the Interstate 64 shootings be put into an intensive program at a local detention center, the teen was sentenced to an indeterminate amount of time at a state juvenile facility.
Brandon Dawson was sentenced Wednesday in Albemarle Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. Virginia’s Department of Juvenile Justice will decide how long Dawson will remain in its custody, which could be until he is 21.
Defense attorney Dana Slater said both she and Dawson’s family were surprised by Judge Susan L. Whitlock’s verdict.
“Frankly, an indeterminate commitment to the Department of Juvenile Justice is about the worst you can get,” Slater said.
Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Darby Lowe declined to comment on the verdict.
Whitlock told the attorneys Wednesday in court that she is familiar with the post-disposition program at the Blue Ridge Detention Center, but she said she decided that the charges against Dawson were too numerous and too violent.
Earlier this month, Dawson pleaded guilty to five counts of maliciously shooting at an occupied vehicle. He was sentenced Wednesday on those charges and two charges transferred from Waynesboro.
Dawson and 19-year-old Slade A. Woodson had been charged with 15 felonies in Albemarle in connection with the March 27 shootings. Authorities said several shots were fired on I-64 from the Route 690 overpass and another at the Ivy exit. Two people were slightly injured in the incidents. Several homes in Albemarle also were hit with gunfire. In Waynesboro, authorities reported someone shot at a car, home and bank.
Lowe previously said in court that Dawson had admitted to firing one shot off the overpass and two shots at homes in Albemarle. The interstate was shut down for hours while police investigated the early-morning shootings, and Albemarle County schools closed for the day.
“Very bad decisions were made,” Slater said. “He was sorry for his bad decisions.”
During court Wednesday, a probation supervisor with the 16th District Court Services Unit recommended that Dawson be admitted into the 180-day Blue Ridge program.
Barbara Ferrier said the program’s staff develops an individual treatment plan for each detainee that includes local services that keep working with him after he is released. Dawson’s family, whom Ferrier described as very supportive, would be able to see him more often than in a state facility and could get involved in his treatment.
Ferrier described Dawson as “a model detainee.”
“He has shown a willingness to cooperate with anything, including any request I made,” Ferrier testified in court. “Brandon has, in his meetings with me, expressed tremendous remorse.”
Lowe said Wednesday that because this is Dawson’s first offense, the post-disposition program was an option. However, Lowe said he would need to go to a state juvenile facility if he resisted the program.
Slater said she would talk with Dawson’s family to discuss whether to appeal. It is unknown how long the state will detain Dawson, although Ferrier’s calculations came up with a sentence of 12 to 18 months.
Dawson is scheduled to return to the juvenile court on May 27, 2009, to review three charges to which he previously pleaded guilty but for which he did not receive a sentence Wednesday. The charges, which involve shots fired at homes and from a vehicle, will be deferred as long as the boy remains on good behavior.
Tasha Kates is a staff writer at the Daily Progress in Charlottesville.